Old Faces
by sugarfrosted
Summary: Future fic. Dean hasn't been to Stars Hollow in years. When he stops by for a family thing, he runs into some old faces. Background Lit, Complete.


**Disclaimer: **Gilmore Girls doesn't belong to me, this is a figment of my imagination and I don't profit from it.

This hasn't been beta-ed, so any and all errors are mine. Sorry.  
Comments are not necessary but are appreciated. ty for yr time.  
xoxo, sugarfrosted

**Old Faces**  
by sugarfrosted

* * *

Dean sighed as he climbed out of his truck and walked into Doose's Market. It had been years since he's been back in Stars Hollow, but his mother called and asked for his help in helping Clara get her things ready for the big move to Brown. He'd been living and working steadily in Trenton when he got the call. He agreed since he'd been due for some vacation time and he had told his boss that Clara got into Brown and needed help moving to Providence.

His mother had greeted him at the door, giving him a hug and ushered him into the kitchen. He sat down at the kitchen table as she poured him a glass of water and told him that Clara was running a bit late from work but will see him soon. Clara had gotten a part-time job at a candle shop in Hartford and spent most of her time away from school there. Mrs. Forester decided that she was going to start making dinner and asked Dean to stop by Doose's to pick up some last minute things. Dean walked through the doors of the grocery store and peered at the list she gave him.

Since there wasn't a lot of things on it, he figured that he could grab and go pretty quickly and hopefully avoid Taylor and Miss Patty. Unfortunately, while he managed to avoid Taylor, he couldn't avoid Miss Patty. She cornered him in the frozen food section.

"Dean!" She exclaimed.

"Uh...hi, Miss Patty." He dumbly replied to her.

"It's been a long time since we've seen you around here. What have you been doing? Have you met someone new? Do you have a family?" Miss Patty stared intently at him as she continued to grill him in hopes of getting new gossip.

"Um...well, I've been working in Trenton for a while now," Dean replied. "I'm here to help Clara move to Providence, she got into Brown. She's got a lot of stuff to pack up and she's running late from work. I just need to pick up a few things for dinner tonight. Mom is expecting me back pretty soon." He hoped Miss Patty didn't realize he didn't answer the questions about his personal life.

"Oh, how nice of you to do that, Dean. Well, I should get going. You should visit more often, it'll be nice to see some more old faces in town." Miss Patty gave him an up and down look, winked, and walked away. Dean blinked and shuddered when he realized Miss Patty had checked him out (again). He quickly continued his shopping.

As he put the groceries in the back of his truck, he saw someone walking towards him. As they got closer, Dean realized that it was Rory Gilmore and a slightly taller man, who looked vaguely familiar. He was pushing a large covered stroller and they seemed to be too involved in a very animated conversation to notice Dean.

"--and then Paris just smacks Doyle in the head and says he's being silly again. I mean, she's only going to Chicago for three days to present a paper for a conference. She'll be back in Cambridge before he knows it."

"Well, you did the same thing to me when I went to New York for a weekend for work, Rory."

"That's different, Jess!" Dean flinched slightly at the mention of Jess's name. "It was the pregnancy hormones talking and don't forget, I was seven months pregnant at the time, thank you very much. And since neither Paris or Doyle are having a baby, that doesn't count." Rory and Jess continued their conversation as they walked with the stroller until they saw Dean and stopped in their tracks. "Oh. Hey Dean." she nodded.

"Hey Rory." Dean returned the gesture. "Jess."

"Dean." Jess replied, a neutral expression on his face. An awkward silence briefly followed until Rory decided to break the ice.

"It's been a long time, Dean. How are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm okay. I've been working in Trenton for a few years now. Clara got into Brown so I'm back to help her pack and move to Providence."

"That's nice," Rory replied. "Brown's a great school. Jess and I went to Providence for a convention once, it's a beautiful city. Clara will like it there." Right at the moment before she could continue, a ringing noise went off. Jess reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He gave an apologetic look to Rory and turned away to answer it as Rory took over the stroller from him.

"So, you married him." Dean stated. It kind of stung that after all the pain he went through of losing Rory to Jess, losing Lindsay, and then losing Rory again to Logan, he would bump into Rory Gilmore again and learn that she married and started a family with Jess Mariano, of all people.

"Yeah, we got married about five years ago and then Oliver here came along. We live in Philly and came here this weekend because Jess has a work thing in Hartford to take care of. So we might as well come visit Mom and Luke." Rory replied, beaming as she gestured to the sleeping child in the stroller.

"What have you guys been doing?" Dean asked her.

"I work for _The Philadelphia Inquirer_ and Jess works from home dealing with Truncheon stuff, his books and then there's Oliver. It's a lot of work for both of us, but it works out." She smiled as she continued talking. Just then, Jess clicked off his cell phone and turned back to them.

"Hey Rory, we gotta go. That was Luke. He said we need to double the shopping list he gave us because Lorelai just told him that your grandparents called and this time, _they're_ coming for dinner. In three hours." Jess made a face that clearly meant he didn't like what Luke had told him.

Rory looked at Jess and her eyes grew wide. "What? Oh no! We have to hurry then!" She turned back to Dean. "Well it was a surprise seeing you again, Dean! But we have to go. Bye!" She waved goodbye to him as she pushed Oliver's stroller along towards Doose's Market.

"See ya Dean." Jess nodded at Dean and stuck his hand out. Dean returned the gesture and they shook hands.

"Good luck to you guys. Don't screw it up, Jess."

"Don't plan to, Dean. We fixed our shit and we're good now. I gotta go, see ya." Jess gave him a goodbye salute as he walked away to catch up with Rory and their son. "And good luck to you, too."

Dean watched them enter the store as he got into his truck. He drove back to his parents' house and as he brought the bags into the kitchen, his mother told him that Clara was on her way back from Hartford and that she'll be home in fifteen minutes. That was fine with him, he could help with making dinner in the meantime.


End file.
